[…] Today, the nation?s top ten radio owners claim almost two-thirds of listeners, according to a study by the Future of Music Coalition. ?Local? ownership of stations has declined by one-third between 1975 and 2005. The listener has become disenfranchised. Radio is a jukebox with commercials, with exceptions mostly in small markets. Nationally, listenership has declined dramatically from its peak in the late 1980s. […]

Community radio advocates will travel to the nation’s capital on Thursday, April 23, for a day of information on and support of the expansion of low-power FM to more American towns and cities. The policy briefing will take place in room 5456 of the Rayburn House Office building at noon and will be sponsored by organizations including Prometheus Radio Project, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Future of Music Coalition, Media Access Project, United Church of Christ, and Free Press.

Back in 2005, I watched Public Enemy producer Hank Shocklee and funk godfather George Clinton debate this issue at a conference in D.C. Shocklee played increasingly short snippets of a song and wondered how much he should pay for the right to use each sample, as commercial hip-hop artists routinely do. Eventually, only a fraction of a note was left. “Am I stealing your performance… or am I just looking for the sound?”

Two Senators are introducing a bill today that would greatly expand access to the radio airwaves. It would allow the creation of hundreds of low power FM stations on the radio dial. Supporters say this year, the appetite is right for passage. FSRN?s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

“When we get this bill passed this year it will be possible for three thousand new community radio stations to appear in cities and towns and suburbs and rural areas all across the country,” Doyle told reporters. The bill has 22 co-sponsors in the House, most notably Lee Terry (R-NE) and Ron Paul (R-TX). It also has the backing of groups like the Future of Music Coalition, whose Board President Michael Bracy expressed impatience with the time it has taken to get this legislation off the ground.

The Future of Music Coalition is a group dedicated to education, research, and advocacy for musicians. In an effort to sort through the quagmire of confusion these days over rights, intellectual property and the effects of new media, the group conducts Policy Days, discussions between representatives of many of the major players. The 2009 Policy Day certainly brought together a wealth of ideas and personalities, though no grand conclusions. read more

Yes, Comcast acting as a gatekeeper to the Internet is a scary prospect indeed. Despite failing to make much headway in the fight against net neutrality, though, providers like Comcast continue to spend millions of dollars each year in hopes of getting their way. So lest you think that net neutrality was a right we established in the early 2000s, realizePhiladelphia and the Future of Music Coalition are holding a Webcast series to make you think otherwise. “Yes, we’ve achieved net neutrality,” says Ti. “But now we have to go into preservation mode, otherwise someone will come in and take it away.”

The American Federation of Musicians and the Future of Music Coalition are actively supporting the move for network neutrality ? FMC even has a campaign called Rock the Net, and both are working in conjunction with Free Press?s Internet for Everyone campaign.